May 31, 2010

It's a beautiful day,The lawn fills with smiling faces.
The sounds of years past delight my ears.
Dancing and singing and enjoying the day.
I look to the sky, my thoughts drift away.
How many will die today?

I think of all those who live in fear,
as I listen to the music and enjoy my beer.
Enjoying the day with all the smiling faces.
Do they know how many will die today

while they partake the sounds of the past?
I look at their faces and realize they do not.
I mention to a friend my thoughts....

With tears running down, I look at the ground.
I pray for the souls that will be set free.
I pray for the mothers and fathers.
I pray for the brothers and sisters,
for the husbands and wives,
and for the daughters and sons.
All will have to live without their loved ones.

I try to enjoy the moment once more, but I cannot.
My soul cries for all the death we have caused.
I pray for peace in all humans that we can enjoy our moments.
Precious moments we choose to blow away, forever.

May 27, 2010

My son came home from school today in a lot of pain between his legs. I took him to the doctors and he sent us straight over to the emergency room. Two hours later he was in surgery. Needless to say I had to cancel my sewing classes tonight and tomorrow.

Apparently his problem is common. The emergency room told us they get a couple of cases a week like his. And hopefully if everything went ok he'll still be able to give me grandchildren. We'll have to wait and see.I ended up going back to the studio because there wasn't enough time to call everyone to cancel this evenings class. So as people walked in the door I had to give them the news I wasn't doing class tonight. One girl drove from South Beach. I'm really sorry I wasn't able to call people before to let them know.

Hopefully my students for the morning class got my phone message and emails. I put a sign on the door if they happen to show up.

I'll make it up to all of you who missed, I promise! Sad thing is these are all new students to the studio because the classes were machine classes. Not a good first impression I know but this is only the second time this has happened where we ended up in the emergency room and I had to cancel.

Hopefully everything will be ok and we can go home tomorrow evening and I won't have to cancel Saturday's classes too.

May 25, 2010

I thought about doing a series of sewing video's of things I teach in my sewing class. When I had this thought I do what I normally do, go straight to the internet to see whats out there. I found so many great sewing video's it's not worth me taking the time to make them.

So if you're looking for a review of what I teach in my classes check out a few of these video's.

There's so many out there to look through. I could spend hours checking them out. Just do a Google or youtube search for sewing video or tutorial of a certain kind you're looking for. It's a lot of fun to watch.

Class was canceled tonight because of a school event. 9 more days until summer vacation. I hope to make it over to the studio for a little while tonight to start some pants I cut out last week. After all, there's no LOST to watch tonight.

Classes are filling quickly this week. My phone rang off the hook today with reservations. I'm also having an Open Enrollment Friday from 6-8pm ~ come by and save $10 when you buy a package deal.

May 23, 2010

The hot weather has arrived back in South Florida after having a wonderful cool winter and early spring. I think with the heat returning it has caused people to think of other things besides sewing class. It was a very slow week at L2S.

6 people attended the machine class.1 person drove very far to attend the cutting class to cut a toddler outfit.10 people attended sewing class making pants, dress, tops, girls dresses, handbags, skirts and a prom grown.

I actually thought I had a couple of full classes but it didn't turn out that way with people not showing up to class and many canceling for one reason or another. I've been real easy going when it comes to people not attending class and having to cancel. This has happened so much lately that I'm going to have to be tougher about my policy.

VERY IMPORTANT! Please don't come early to sewing class - again doors open 5 minutes before class begins. If you enroll to a class and arrive late you may not make up this time missed meaning if you show up 30 minutes late you lost this time and may not stay longer to make up the time missed. If you pay for sewingclass hours in advance, reserve your seat to any class and don't attend to the seat you reserved your time will be deducted from the hours you purchased. You may reschedule with a 24 hour notice and a fee of $5.

Some people have scheduled more than 15 hours of class time and haven't attended. They only paid for 10 hours. I haven't taken their hours away but this has happened so often with so many people that I'm going to have to be tough and not have people take advantage of my generosity. Everyone will have to pay for the rescheduling fee if they have to cancel. I want to be nice and just give in but I just can't do it anymore. I am doing this for a business and I do have a higher rent to pay with my new beautiful location that everyone loves so much. So from now on student who reserve a seat and don't reschedule will have their time deducted..so... please come to class because I want you to learn how to sew so that it brings you as much joy as it's brought so many others.

Sam has been sewing at home and has made many new little dresses for her photo shoots. She's put a lot of time in to sewing and has come a long way since the first day. We talked about it recently how she asked SO many questions in the machine class. When people ask a lot of questions I can't always get through everything I want to teach. She over heard me talking about the width of a bolt of fabric. She said "I didn't know that". I told her I teach it in the machine class but couldn't because she asked so many questions.LOL She really has come far since that first day!

There were a few students who got private lessons this week because they were the only ones who showed up to sew. Adriana's working on pants. We have to modify her pattern so she gets that TNT pattern.Charlisse (who I saw at the fabric store at the cutting table last week) worked on finishing a jump suite (very 70's looking) and cut out her next project.

Denise (another one who drove very far to attend class) made a donation of a roll of medical paper which I love to use as pattern paper. For her first sewing class she started off sewing a hand bag. She got a little frustrated sewing the circle bottom of the fabric and liner so I suggested she drop that project and cut the other pattern she brought to class, a cute little outfit for her daughter. She got a lot of it sewn in class before it ended. And most of it she understood on her own by following the directions herself. Very cool when people do this because I just know they are going to have much success sewing at home.

Jenny came to class a couple of hours this week and brought with her all her projects she's been sewing at home. She wanted me to tell her what she did wrong but honestly I couldn't. She is a perfectionist who has to get things right so she takes her time and makes beautiful things. I am so impressed with all the things she brought in and I really intended to take pictures of them - why the camera never came out while she was there????? I could kick myself.

A few other students came in working on their pants and skirt patterns looking to get the perfect fit and make their pattern they can use all the time. Scott has a couple more things for his prom gown (pic's to come very soon of the event). Other students I've had to be a teacher with and tell them they are trying to sew more difficult techniques they they are able to do right now. When you start off making things that are simple you understand how to put the fabric to the machine to make beautiful things.... it happens in baby steps.

Myself, I got to sew a few things: finish up a couple of tops that were laying around that either needed buttons or a hem. It's hot here in SoFlo so time to remove the few winter items hanging in the closet and replace them with the unfinished sewing projects hanging around

NEXT WEEK CLASSESSewing Tuesday 6:30-8:30Sewing Wednesday 11am-1pm and 6:30-8:30Sewing Thursday 10am-2pmMachine Thursday 6:60-8:30Machine Friday 10am-12nSewing Friday 1-3pmCutting Saturday 10am-12nSewing Saturday 1-5pmCan you believe we only have 8 more days left of school and the kids are out for summer? This school year just flew by. This week they have off Friday and next week they have off Monday for Memorial Day. I can't wait to have a break from school. I'm tired waking up before the sun everyday... i want to sleep in for a while..... I want to sew!

HAVE FUN to all of those who watch LOST! It's all ending tonight and lets hope they pull some of the story lines together. I am so lost watching LOST. And is anyone a Grays Anatomy fan? OMG was that a great way to end the season! I really enjoyed it. And with all the shows ending just think.. more time to sew!

May 21, 2010

Did you know you can make your own hook and eye tape with twill tape if you can't find any at JoAnn's to buy?

One of my students needed hook and eye tape for a project to enter a contest through JoAnn Fabrics. Everything must be bought at the store to enter the contest. Guess what - none of the local stores have any hook and eye tape.

Next best thing is to make your own. I had the idea to hand sew hooks and eyes to twill tape then sew another layer of twill tape on top with the machine. When you can't find what you need just like in life you make it work. I'll let ya know how well it works and show you pictures when the project is finished.

UPDATED 5/24: I received an email - Hi I saw your blog and thought our site, twilltape.com might be an interesting source for you. Please check us out sometime.

May 20, 2010

Many people want to learn to sew to start a business of their own. They have an idea and want to learn how to make it to sell.

I talk about Amber a lot on my sewing classes. I'm so proud of her and what she's accomplished in her short time as being a business owner. She started Rufflebutts around 3 years ago and has had much success.

May 17, 2010

Ok, so it's longer than a week since my last post. Why? Because this is life sometimes being a parent, business owner, housewife and all the other hats I wear. I've had to turn something off the past 10 or so days so my choice was the online stuff. I'm not sure when the drama will end and I can feel comfortable doing my regular post and blog reading.... just trying to take things one moment at a time taking care of the important things first.

A lot of drama with L2S I won't get in to but lets just say things are happening that I usually don't have to deal with which puts more on my to do plate. Not so much the teaching and sewing parts but the business end of it. A little hint to add to all the other things is the plumbing has been backing up in the restroom at the sewing studio. Dealing with landlords old and new, lets just say I wish people would treat other people with the golden rule in handling business matters. It would be a lot less stressful. I don't know why people have to be asses sometimes when doing business. You treat me right, I'll treat you right. But heck, look at Wall Street now and we've gotten to "he who has the most wins" no matter who you get your most from. So, oh yes, the poopy has been backing up but you just have to deal with it until the pipes get unclogged and things start flowing again.

Oh the drama being a parent and dealing with a little one who's hormones are starting. Oh the tears... I mean the daily tears. Tears in school, tears at home. We can't stop the water works. One minute smiling and everything is ok, the next the tears start flowing down the cheeks. I don't remember 10 being like this but then again there were other things in life that brought me tears when I was that age.

As far as sewing classes last week, some of the classes I thought were full ended up having people not showing up while other students wanted to attend. Some classes students got private lessons because they were the only ones who attended. It was a strange week that I often thought to myself "is it a full moon?". I know a couple of people finished some sewing projects and I know I took pictures of them. Dang if I can find them now. They went poof in the night somewhere.

I do have pictures from the dance compitition from yesterday that ran 3 hours late. We were there for 13 hours. It was a long day....

We only had 4 dances, two just the Jr. team and two with both groups the preteens (tweens) and the teenagers. The video's are only the tweens. I like the tap better but they won more awards with Hair Looks Fierce. (updated: My mistake, they won more with Rock This house than they did the jaz dance). I'm not sure what they won with the big girls because we didn't stay for the awards. We'll find out today.. (update: found out the tap dance took first place with high gold. I'll have to post that video later. It was a good dance!)

And the DRAMA continues another day. I hope I can get back to my regular post but I'm not promising anything. There's still so much to do and so little time to do it all in. Until I get caught up with everything I'm going to put less stress on myself with not feeling like I HAVE to post.

Hope to see you in class this week.... sewing makes things all better :) for me anyway.

May 9, 2010

For my mom I got a picture frame and uploaded almost 400 pictures to it. She LOVED IT! It took me 4 hours to go through 12 years of pictures but it was all worth the look on Mom's face when she saw what she had.

May 8, 2010

This week started out with an Open House on Monday evening. I ran the event to offer $10 off sewing classes if people came in to the studio (no one took advantage of this offer). I also wanted to make journals for Alida and her Write it Out Project.

3 people attended the machine class to learn how to use the machine.2 people attended the cutting class cutting pants and a dress17 people attended sewing class making the usual clothing and alterations.

Anna started off her sewing adventure with an easy project in an apron and oven mitt to give to her mother for Mothers Day. She made this in a few hours of sewing class. She added an applique to the pocket. Aprons are easy first projects to make. The go fast and you learn some basic things like pockets and how to flip the fabric for your straps and little folds around the edges to finish the edge of the fabric. You can have an apron sewn in no time.

Jenny came to cutting class a couple weeks ago and made this dress all on her own. I told you about it in last weeks week in review but forgot to take a picture. She came back to class this week with several different projects. She is well on her way to a life time of sewing. I just love it! There's not much teach Jenny that she doesn't get on her own. (and btw Jenny isn't this short - I had the dress form up REALLY high LOL)

Marta finished her first project with her skirt and has started a blouse. She's learning how to install sleeves with sleeve bands and gathers. Pictures of her dress coming soon.

Adriana is a small women who has a hard time finding cloths that fit because she is so tiny. Her first few sewing classes involved altering her clothing to make them fit better. Now we've been working on getting that great fit with pants. Claudia has also been in class this week working on the perfect pant pattern.

Jamie came in to work on her blouse. She learned how to leave the edges raw by using the serger. It's fun to put someone on the serger for the first time. She also learned smocking with this project.

Friends Evelyn and Maor have been attending sewing class to learn how to make swim suites. I have a lot of students who want to learn how to make them. Hey, we live in Florida where its something we have on a lot this time of year so it's something a lot of people want to learn to sew. I try to tell people it's not easy to sew for your first project. Needless to say these friends are struggling through the process of learning.

Yasmin has been attending sewing class for a few weeks now. She's been working on making scarfs on not so easy fabric to work with. She's another one I showed how to use the serger to finish her raw edges. So much fun!

Scott came to class to work on his prom dress for the JoAnn's Prom contest. It really is beautiful! I can't wait to show you pictures of the final project but it's going to have to wait until after the contest ends.

A few other people attended class making pants, alterations and baby clothes.

And I got to finish a top I started before I made the move. I didn't like the way the sleeves came out the first time and I had to sew the buttons on....right after I found them. Always loosing things in the move.

Next week classesSewing Tuesday 6:30-8:30pm (class full)Sewing Wednesday 11am-1pm and 6:30-8:30pmSewing Thursday 10am-2pmMachine Thursday 6:30-8:30pmMachine Friday 10am-1pmSewing Friday 1-3pmCutting Saturday 10am-12nSewing Saturday 1-5pmOne thing about this week is my little one had another dance competition today that I didn't get to attend because I have to teach on Saturday's since it's my busiest day. I did get to do her hair before my morning class then run home to do her makeup during lunch. They were in 4 dances and took first in 3. I got an early Mothers Day present with a video of the dances. Not a great production but I got to see the dances. Something I have yet to see this year because I have to work every Saturday.

I'm a proud Mama :) Maybe tomorrow I can upload a video form the DVD they bought for me. and hopefully I can get a couple more projects of my own cut out next week ready for my implements of sewing construction. Do you realize there's only a few weeks left until it's summertime again? Where did the school year go? .... on to the next.... time to sign up for summer camp.

May 7, 2010

In part 2 of making it work I talked about how we never stop learning either in our sewing techniques and life _ and how everything we do is never perfect. We're going to make mistakes. The bad things that happen are there to teach us lessons. The good things that happen are lessons learned - when you sew your gold.

A little more about learning. You never know where you're going to get your education. Many of the thing's I talk about in "make it work" has taken me years to learn. I take a little bit of information here, a little bit there, put them together and try different things until I "make it work".

Someone asked me the other day if I design things myself. I really have to say I never was good at inventing things in my own mind. I look at this sewing technique someone did and implement it into something I'm doing. I was the same way when I was a hairstylists. Just like in life, if I'm not sure about something I think about all the different ways I can do it and try to do the best technique.

So, when I sold real estate for a living I attended a lot of selling seminars. You never know where you're going to get your education. If I just learn one thing from someone that helps me I look as it as good money and time spent. This is why I tell people to attend my sewing machine class even if they know how to use their machine because you never know when they learn that one thing that can really help and save them time. So, I was attending and Anthony Robins seminar years ago, I learned tons for my $300 to attend. I really got my money's worth.

One thing I learned from Anthony was there's one thing we all have the same - 24hrs in each day. We could have more or less money, friends, family, health: all kinds of things. But there's only one thing we all have the same and that the hours in each day. How you spend your hours will determine what kind of life you have. It's your choice how you embrace each moment.

I learned from Anthony if you feed it - it WILL grow. There's only so much you can fit in your 24 hours to consume your time. Take away 8 hours for sleeping, a couple for eating and all the things for your body's survival and you have about 14 hours in each day to do the things that are important to you. You can't do everything in that time given so you have to decide a few things that are most important and do something/anything for that something important and it will grow..... give it nothing and it dies.

So the first step to setting goals is deciding what's important to you and what brings you the most smiles. Start out with picking 8 things like: running a business, family, friends, house (inside and out), religion, reading, sewing.......

Once you decide what your heart desires each day you have to do something to feed it. You can spend 10 minutes or 2 hours. The more you feed it the better it will grow. If you give it nothing - nothing will happen and sometimes that something you love so much dies.

How I stay on track, free my mind so I can sleep at night. There's so much I want to do to fill my day's. If I didn't write everything down to keep me in order I could never make it work. No matter where I am I have my to do/ to buy list. When things pop in my head be it at home or my sewing studio, driving in the car I make list of things I have to do and have to buy. At the end of the day I put these thoughts all together for my to do list for the next day. It's time management because we only have maybe 14 hours to feed it so it grows.

My #1: I'm making sure my kids needs are met in school and at home. It all starts with them. There will be a time when my time is my own but most of my time is spent for my children showing them with hard work how they can have good things around them (sometimes I feel like I do all the hard work and they take advantage of it - how do I get them to pick up dirty clothes?? LOL) So my kids and house take up most of my hours in the day because this is what's most important in my life at this point in time.

#2 My business. I have great ideas for my business but I hold back because most of my time I give to my kids. Again my time will come soon enough to feed my business more. I give my business sometimes 30-35 hours a week. There isn't a day I haven't done something for L2S since I had the idea to open.

#3 Giving to family/parents. Getting older you realize the people around you won't always be here with us. Because our family's important we talk/feed our relationships with other people. It takes time to be a friend or good family member. If you care about the people around you - you better give them some of your 14 hours in the day. Feed it and it will grow... starve it and it dies. Feed the relationships that are most important to you because everyone and everything eventually dies. Enjoy your moments while you have them. Make the choice to give yourself smiles.

How I get the most out of my time.
I go down my to do list to see what things I HAVE to accomplish RIGHT NOW and put the letter A next to it. The things I don't have to do right away but need to be done very soon I give it the letter B. And things I really want to do but I have plenty of time to do them in I give them a C. You do all your A things today, The B items become tomorrow's A things to do. You give yourself 4 weeks to do the C items but they do have to move up the list. If you don't do them in 4 weeks you have to remove them because it's not important to you or you would have done it. When you do this you can see how much you can accomplish - use your time wisely and get tons done in your 14 hours so you can sleep well in your 8 hours given.

Remember - we only have these 24 hours right now.... feed it and it WILL GROW!

That's how I make it work with my precious moments given to me....
But I always strive to learn the lessons in the moment to make them better.... wondering when I've made my gold. I will probably realize this at my last breath how much gold I produced.

May 6, 2010

Did you know... once you get a great fitting pattern that you want to use over and over again you can iron on fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the pattern to give it body so the pattern last longer for your many uses?

And I hope you know patterns are meant to be used over and over again. I'm surprised how many students think you just use them one time and want to toss them in the garbage.

It’s 9:15 a.m., and I am sitting with throws of rugged rawhide skins, a lethal-looking alligator skull, and designer Logan Neitzel in his West Side New York studio. Those pelts are for more than decorative effect; Neitzel’s debut collection for fall 2010 is almost entirely made out of them. “I grew up working on saddles and reins,” says the Blackfoot, Idaho, native. “My father and grandfather were leather craftsmen.” A world away from home on the range—and after a spell at the Art Institute of Seattle and season six of Project Runway—Neitzel has settled in New York, where he has been busy working on launching his line that’s ostensibly for women (standouts: a slashed-leather tank dress and a lambskin skirt accented with a tiered-chain detail), but has plenty of pieces with an androgynous charm too. (A few are soon to be available from Eva New York.

Peacock makes art one stitch at a timeMartinez News-GazetteMon, 26 Apr 2010
As the planning evolves for the Martinez Open Studios event, it’s becoming apparent that artists working in a wide variety of mediums will be represented. Besides fine art painters and photographers, on the roster are glass workers, body painting, dancers and even costumers. Nancy Peacock falls in the last category. A Martinez resident since 1990, Peacock has brought sewing to a new artistic ...

Let’s Talk Shop with Derrel’s Sewing CenterThe News HeraldMon, 26 Apr 2010PANAMA CITY - Embroidery software and examples are tucked away on shelves and baskets of extra fabric are rolled up in baskets at Brenda Daniels’ sewing business. Daniels has been in love with sewing since she was 13. âI just enjoy putting it all...

A gift for sewing and givingAlbany Times UnionMon, 26 Apr 2010CLIFTONPARK -- Every patch on Ann Schwanda's quilts is sewn with love, even if she and her helpers don't always know who will get them.

Eyeing needleworkThe Medina County GazetteMon, 26 Apr 2010BRUNSWICK â When it comes to sewing and craft work, the Medina Needlework Guild does not spool around. The guild held its 29th annual Needlework Art Show at Brunswick Library on Sunday, where some 90 pieces of needlework were on display and judged by members of the guild and the public. âWe just want to bring awareness [...]

Prison inmates take up embroideryThis is OxfordshireTue, 27 Apr 2010
Some of the toughest inmates at an Oxfordshire prison are learning to sew in an effort to stitch their lives back together.

A new generation of quilting beginsVermilion StandardTue, 27 Apr 2010
At 10-years-old it isn't often you have already finished sewing your first quilt but for Katherine Pulyk not only has she finished her first quilt but is looking forward to starting her second.

Sewing up second-hand styleColfax RecordThu, 29 Apr 2010
Rita Ritchey has never met a pair of blue jeans she didn't like. Never mind the size, shade or style. All that matters to the Colfax resident is that the pants are in need of a good home. …

Little Miami senior already fashioning her career in designThe Pulse-JournalThu, 29 Apr 2010
MORROW - Katie Bishop has been interested in fashion and design all her life. She began sewing at age 13, making many of her own garments and, now as a high school student, designing and making gowns for her friends.

Sewing Emporium - Sew what?Channel 8 San DiegoFri, 30 Apr 2010
For 34 years, Gilbert Murray's shop on Third Avenue in Chula Vista has been bobbing and weaving, rebuilding and collecting -- lots of collecting.

Hancock Fabrics hires an Oriental Trading exec to oversee e-commerceInternetRetailer.comMon, 26 Apr 2010
Hancock Fabrics, a specialty fabric and related home sewing and decorating accessories, has named Stacey Gross vice president, e-commerce. Gross will oversee all aspects of the companyâs online merchandising, marketing and operations and will report to CEO Jane Aggers.

As they fold, Indonesia garment makers blame ChinaAP via Yahoo! FinanceMon, 26 Apr 2010
Mufardi Rusli's neighbors hunch over tables covered in brightly colored fabric, the whirring of their sewing machines echoing across his Jakarta neighborhood. For Rusli, the sound is a bitter reminder of the $2 line of jackets that bankrupted him, costing him a garment business it took 15 years to build.

Events:

âBountiful Harvestâ is theme for 2010 Quilt Block ContestBoone News RepublicanSat, 01 May 2010
Adult and youth quilters are invited to sew a âBountiful Harvestâ quilt block for the 2010 Boone County Fair. Packets of fabric and contest rules are available from the Boone County ISU Extension Office at 603 Story Street in Boone.

Giving Back:

All-American approach to helping Haiti: shopCNNFri, 30 Apr 2010 13:57 PM PDT
Mesh Gelman's button-down khaki shirt has turned two shades darker with sweat. But he is more concerned about who will sew the perfect placket on the knit polos he hopes to deliver to Beverly Hills Polo Club.

Christopher will be exhibiting his art work from South Miami K - 8 Center and from the Doral Conservatory School of The Arts. The art works selected for this exhibition offer a variety of media and subject matter.

You will meet the artist and appreciate his first evening wear fashion design collections inspired by the world's great fashion designers, such as Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Charles James, Christian Dior, and Diane Von Furstenberg.

On Friday, May 7,2010, join us for a wine and cheese reception at:

The Angel's Ring

86 Miracle Mile

Coral Gables, FL 33134

6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Sincerely,

Nilda De Boyrie
The Angel's Ring

The Angel's Ring

86 Miracle Mile

Coral Gables, Florida

305-446-9315

Thank you for your ongoing support and please feel free to send our invitation to your family and friends.

May 2, 2010

We ended the last week of April with many creative things happening and a little change in the scheduling.

I've been running my Technique Tuesday to teach advance sewing, the only problem is I haven' had many people sign up to them. Tuesday was a zipper class with no enrollment. Zippers are the most popular thing to learn so since no one enrolled I've decided to make every Tuesday evening sewing classes. I already have a full class next week so I think it's going to work out much better to offer daily sewing classes.

5 people attended the machine class to start their adventures off with sewing.2 people attended cutting class to trace a burda pattern and cut a knit dress.20 people attended sewing making dresses, baby clothing, kids clothes, pants, tops, crib sheets, seat covers, prom dress and alterations.

I don't have a picture of one of my students projects, Jenny. I really wish I would have remembered to pull out the camera. She came to sewing class last week to cut a wrap dress. She came to her first sewing class this week with the thing almost made. She did a great job not knowing all the steps. She has sewn before so she does have a concept of what she was doing but she's never made clothing. I was very impressed with her ability to understand how to put the seams together. I love when my students do this. I just know they are going to have a life full of fabric creations.

Agi came to class too to make a little baby outfit. She's pregnant but you can hardly tell. She would be one of those women who have a baby and never knew they were pregnant. She hardly shows at all. She's also working on making a crib sheet to fit her round crib.

Claudia came to a couple sewing classes this week to work on that perfect fit in pants. She's sewn a muslin that we had to tweak and now she's ready to cut her fashion fabric to start on a real pair. Only thing is, she's very tall and the lady who cut her fabric suggested not enough fabric so, even though she only 1/4 of a yard short to make pants - she really needs 2 1/2 yards to make them as long as she wants. So, she put aside her pants and pulled out a knit top to cut. She got really frustrated cutting out fabric that was very light weight with a stretch so I suggested she not sew this top right now, to put it aside until she get a little more comfortable sewing with this kind of fabric... practice and you can make your gold.

Sabrina has been attending sewing class with her mom. They pay for Sabrina to attend and mom pays a guest fee to watch Sabrina and help pulling out her mistakes (lucky girl). They both are learning the art but Sabrina's doing most of the work. Her first project was a beautiful top she made for her mom. Because it was a very lightweight fabric it wasn't an easy project to do but one good thing it didn't have stretch like Claudia's fabric.

Sisters Aileen and Megan (who by the way are 20 years apart and only look a few years.) are both working on the same dress out of the same fabric. It's the little halter dress so many of my students have made in the past. They got most of the bodice done and are having a cute little contest to see who's comes out better.

Scott's still working on his prom dress for the JoAnn's Prom Contest. It's crunch time to get this thing done and of course when you at crunch time always, always things happen that were unexpected. Yesterday he got hurt with his scissors, the seams we're coming together like we needed them thus a lot of the use of our friend the seam ripper. I love the fabric he's using. It has a beautiful drape to it. And I have to say I'm so proud of him, he's mastered the invisible zipper! Look how nice he installed one in this dress.

Monday night I'm having my FREE OPEN HOUSE PARTY from 6pm-10ish. We'll be making journals for the "write it out project". If you want to attend just show up and help make journals. I'll have everything needed for the projects. I'm also offering $10 off for anyone who wants to sign up for a package deal of sewing classes.

If you can't make it to the party I hope to see you in class and if your a far away reader I hope you're sewing and having many smiles that sewing can bring us.

Sewing Teacher

Classes Offered at Learn 2 Sew

Location: Hollywood, FloridaAdult sewing classes starting all the time. Learn the sewing machine, how to cut and sew using a pattern of your choice, clothing construction, alterations and fun creative projects. Make your own schedule to fit your lifestyle.